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I started getting information on this thing called a Twitter chat about a week ago. And, I assumed what it was, and my assumptions were right. You reading this may have experienced one, or maybe you lead them all of the time. I had no idea what is was going to be like.

So, for those of you who have no idea what it is, let me explain, since I participated in my first Twitter chat on Wednesday night.

The overall intended goals for this chat, moderated by Jamie Sparks, Kentucky Department of Education (Twitter handle @JamieSparksCSH), Robin MeMe Ratliff (@meme3rat) and Jacy Wooley, Alliance for a Healthier Generation ( @jacysproverb), was to establish lines of communication amongst those attending Southern District American Alliance for Health, PE, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD) Conference, promote higher level professional discussions (although the first one this week was meant to introduce people), spark interest in sessions, share common topics of what people would like to see/hear, and motivate people to attend sessions they might not have thought about attending otherwise.

What do you do on a Twitter chat? Well, you login into your account, go to search and type in the hashtag of the chat. This hashtag was #SDpechat. And, if you look that up now, you can scroll back and review the entire chat we had. Make sure to click on "All" versus "Top" or else you won't get all the results, only the top trending. So, at 9pm, the time of the meeting, I typed in the hashtag and did a search. The chat leaders posted directions that they would be posting a series of questions (they ended up asking 6 over the course of the hour) and to tweet (post) your answer, tag the 3 moderators and use the hashtag #SDpeChat with the question number. See example below.

#SDpechat Q1 – Are you attending SD? How many conventions have you attended? "Yes, & I have attended 9 conventions. @jacysproverb @meme3rat @JamieSparksCSH #SDpechat Q1."

Then, you see what people write as you 'refresh' your page and you have the opportunity to respond to people's tweets (you may know them, or start following them now, or they begin following you), retweet or favorite. After about 5-8 minutes, another question was posted. Below are the other 5 questions we chatted about.

#SDpechat Q2 – Have you been to Kentucky before? If yes, share a highlight.#SDpechat Q3 – Who is your favorite PE group/person to follow on Twitter?#SDpechat Q4 – Are you presenting at SD? If so session/time etc?#SDpechat Q5 – What session or activity at SD you most looking forward to?#SDpechat Q6 – What specific topics do want discussed for #SDpechat #2 on 2/12?

As a result of last night's chat...

I have 21 new followers (some that were part of the chat, some that picked up on a tweet theme or tag and began following me)

I started following about 15 new people that were referred to during Q3 from others

I engaged with new people in the field that I'll meet in person Feb 19-22 in Lexington at Southern District

I become more knowledgable about offerings at the conference and learned something new about people on the chat. It was worth the hour and ton of fun!

Take note: next SDpeChat will be at 9pm EST, 2/12. Tweet with ya then!